Bootstrapping supersymmetric (matrix) quantum mechanics
Abstract
We apply the quantum-mechanics bootstrap to supersymmetric quantum mechanics (SUSY QM) and to its matrix relative, the Marinari-Parisi model, which is conjectured to describe the worldvolume of unstable branes. Using positivity of moment matrices together with Heisenberg, gauge, and (zero-temperature) thermal constraints, we obtain rigorous bounds on ground-state data. In the cases where SUSY is spontaneously broken, we find bounds that apply to the lowest-energy normalizable eigenstate. For SUSY QM with a cubic superpotential, we obtain tight bounds that agree well with available approximation methods. At weak coupling they match well with the semiclassical instanton contribution to SUSY-breaking ground-state energy, while at strong coupling they exhibit the expected scaling and match well with Hamiltonian truncation. For the SUSY matrix QM, we construct a bootstrap matrix and obtain bounds at large . At strong coupling, we obtain the expected scaling of with and extract a lower bound on the coefficient . At small coupling, the theory has a critical point where the two wells merge into one. We find a spurious kink at . We attribute this to truncation error and solver limitations, and discuss possible improvements.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2510.01356,
title = {Bootstrapping supersymmetric (matrix) quantum mechanics},
author = {Samuel Laliberte and Brian McPeak},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.01356},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
34 pages